Five Television Shows I Watch and What I’d Drink With Them

I’m stuck with a dead laptop at home this week, so I’m relegated to dredging up some drafts I’ve had laying around that I can shine up and post at lunch during work. Of course, there’s probably a reason why some of them have been banished to the depths of my draft folder all this time. Here’s an amazingly innovative (boring) and unique (done to death) topic on TV shows I like to watch! Don’t kick yourself because you didn’t think of it first guys, we can’t ALL be on the cutting edge.

To keep anyone from reading this and getting all grumpy….be warned, beyond this sentence, there be… SPOILERS!

GAME OF THRONES

The Best Thing About It: Peter Dinklage’s character Tyrion (for which Peter won Best Supporting actor at both the Emmy’s and the Golden Globes) is possibly one of the best characters on TV right now.

The Quickie: When the king of the Seven Kingdoms dies in a hunting accident, claimants to the throne start coming out of the woodwork. Prince Joffery takes the throne believing himself to be the rightful successor, but in reality he’s not the king’s son, but the son of his mother the queen and her brother – yep, I’m not going to lie (I’m lying) this show is deep with wholesome family values. As war breaks out across the kingdoms everyone turns a blind eye to a greater problem – winter is coming, someone has stolen the dragons, it appears the White Walkers are on the move again after thousands of years, and everyone seems to have forgotten about the naked man they tied behind a horse in episode 6.

Why I Watch: Smartly written and beautifully filmed. The story constantly takes twists you would not expect.

Example: Producers would not consider going forward with the show unless they were able to get veteran actor Sean Bean to agree to play Ned Stark, friend of and later Hand of the King. Most shows would have been thrill to have an actor of Bean’s caliber on the show for it’s entire run. But instead the producers hired Bean to play a character who is beheaded by Joffery ¾ of the way into season 1.

How It Has Impacted My Life: Composer Ramin Djawadi’s (Iron Man, Person of Interest) theme constantly gets stuck in my head and I routinely finding myself rooting for wolves.

What I Would Drink With It: As a good amount of action takes place in the North, or is geared around the coming of Winter, any Winter Warmer or Winter style ale should do. Or find one of these:

Disclaimer: The above labels are not real. Any time wasted by you looking for these beers is strictly a sign of wishful thinking.

THE WALKING DEAD

The Best Thing About It: Zombies!

The Quickie: Sheriff Rick Grimes wakes up in the hospital after being shot to discover the horror of not only having to remove his own catheter, but that the dead are returning as flesh-eating zombies. Soon he finds himself leading a small group of survivors who don’t like or trust each other. And to make matters worse, the zombies are not always the most dangerous things in this new world.

Why I Watch: Did I mention zombies? Do I really have to say anything else? Plus you never know who’s going to get eaten next.

Example: Rick’s partner Shane and a farmer’s son Otis sneak into town for some supplies. When they get hopelessly over run by “walkers”, Shane shoots Otis in the leg in a classic example of “I don’t have to out run the bear, I just have to out run you.”

How It Has Impacted My Life:

My Plan: Get to a Walmart with a Liquor Store Next Door.

What I Would Drink With It: Either Three Floyds’ Zombie Dust or Hop Zombie from Epic Beer in New Zealand.

THE BIG BANG THEORY

The Best Thing About It: Intelligent “nerdy” humor.

The Quickie: Four brilliant Caltech scientists fumble their way through everyday ordinary life. While one of them (Leonard) tries to have a normal relationship with the woman who lives across the hall he must put up with the fact they all live outside of the normal world.

Why I Watch: I get all the “nerd” jokes: comic books, sci-fi, science stuff. Yeah, I was one of those guys (except on the opposite end of the IQ scale). Plus I’m not going to lie (this time I’m not lying) Kaley Cuoco is just a cutie.

Example: This cracks me up every time I see it.

Click for YouTube video

How It Has Impacted My Life: Yelling “Bazinga” whenever someone takes something stupid I say at face value, knowing way to much about Schrödinger’s cat, and confirming my opinion that yes, Aquaman does indeed “suck”.

What I’d Drink With It: With much of the humor laced with matters of science and space I’d recommend either a Singularity Russian Imperial Stout from Driftwood Brewing, Dark Matter from Hoyne Brewing or The Physics by Brewdog.

DOCTOR WHO

The Best Thing About It: Just about everything – but at the moment, Matt Smith.

The Quickie: A 1000+ year-old Time Lord travels through time and space in a time machine that’s stuck in the shape of a 1960s English police box.

Why I Watch: It seems like I’ve always been watching it. The franchise will be celebrating it’s 50th year anniversary in 2013 and I hopped on sometime in the early 70s. Because I was greatly into the show in its US hay day of the 80’s I went to a few conventions and really formed a bond to the show’s past, which stays with me to this day.

Example: I’ve personally met Patrick Troughton, John Pertwee and Colin Baker; all of which have played the Doctor. I’ve also met companions John Levene, Louise Jameson, Lalla Ward, Sarah Sutton, Mark Strickson, Janet Fielding, Nicola Bryant, Carol Ann Ford, and Bonnie Langford; along with Anthony Ainley who played the Doctor’s archenemy, The Master.

How It Has Impacted My Life: Thinking “Would you like a Jelly Baby?” is a great pick up line, believing that bow ties are indeed cool, and answering “spoilers!” when my manager asks me how I’m going to get my report done in time for European submission. And most importantly – giving me something else to be besides a Star Trek nerd.

What I Would Drink With It: Anything, but I wish they actually made this….

But you can get the T-Shirt!

ONCE UPON A TIME

The Best Thing About It: Jennifer Morrison (House, Star Trek)

The Quickie: The Evil Queen from the fairy tales casts a curse on everyone, trapping well-known fairy tale characters in this world in a town called Storybrooke. As the fairy tale characters go about their normal lives, one boy tries to convince his mother that she’s the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and as such is the only one who can break the Queen’s curse.

Why I Watch: Creative retelling of well known fairy tale characters. The weaving of the stories in the fairy tale world and the real world are very well done.

Example: The Evil Queen convinces a man named Jefferson to use his magic hat to take her to Wonderland despite his reluctance to go and leave his daughter home alone. Once there, the evil queen rescues her father, who the Queen of Hearts had imprisoned. But that causes a problem. As Jefferson had cautioned earlier, since two people entered Wonderland, only two people can leave. The queen returns to the fairy tale world with her father, leaving Jefferson to be captured by the Queen of Hearts. When the Queen asks him how he got to Wonderland, she commands him to make another magic hat. The last scene is Jefferson in a room full of hundreds of hats, slowly going mad trying to create another one with the magic to return him to his world and his daughter.

How It Has Impacted My Life: Replacing Fox’s “Animation Domination” in my Sunday night TV line-up. I didn’t think anything would ever do that. But let’s face it, The Simpson’s have been running on empty for awhile (except for the opening sequences), and the Cleveland show is hit or miss.

What I Would Drink With It: Suntory Brewing’s Snow White from Japan, Mad Hatter IPA from New Holland Brewing, or Jamieson’s Raspberry Ale from Australian whose ad, much like this show, had a different take on the Snow White story: